Brassicas

Jbohn · Jan 27, 2013

My Brassica Mix , January 10th , Crushed , unreal !!!!

Tickrancher · Jan 28, 2013

The last remaining turnips are about gone from my brassica plot. I am planning for the spring crop rotation. The local mills don’t carry crimson or berseem clover. What is the advantage of using crimson clover versus using a red or white clover? For those of us who can’t easily find annual clovers what do you suggest? When I rotate out of the brassica should I suck it up and pay shipping for crimson clover?
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dbltree · Feb 1, 2013

You can use red clover seed but the only problem is that it is slow to establish compared to either crimson or berseem. Since it is a temporary cover crop, red clover can also be a little more expensive although not always.

I would weigh the cost of the annual clovers with shipping against red clover seed locally and then decide which might be best for you? If you go with red clover, get it established as early as possible as it is more cold hardy then annuals like berseem. :way:

February 1st, 2013

One advantage of planting brassicas is the tremendous amount of tonnage one can grow in a small area and with both forage and roots they can provide food from August thru mid winter. Deer will readily eat frozen turnips as long as they last....

but if the weather warms and stays warm for to long the roots will begin to rot and the whole patch starts to stink!

Radish roots are the first to decompose but the turnip roots will last a long time or until weather warms and they get mushy

The rape plants will stay green amazingly long which is yet another reason I use a mix of forage radish, rape and turnips

Eventually they will devour every last morsel on most farms and that's why it's important to have the other half of each feeding area in the winter rye combo...it doesn't rot or spoil and any warm weather at all will encourage growth that will keep whitetails coming every day, year around. Not having year around food sources encourages them to find food elsewhere and if you are interested in managing for big whitetails, forcing deer to visit the neighbors property is definitely not in your best interest....

mshm99 · Feb 5, 2013

I've got a couple spots I could not get to this fall. I was thinking of spring planting some crimson clover and putting in a little GHR along with it. Would I be wasting the GHR?

Mike

dbltree · Feb 6, 2013

Deer are less likely to eat a spring planting of GHFR and it doesn't do as much for the soil either, fall planted radishes decompose in the winter, water flows in the channels, freezes/thaws and loosens hard pan soils.

I would skip the FR in the spring....

mshm99 · Feb 9, 2013

OK. Scratch the GHFR. I'll do crimson and oats. I was a little itchy because I bought this last week

I put together the brassica mix for a few guys last fall. They told there friends , so I'm going to see if I can help offset my seed costs with some sales.

I was at the grocery store today. I saw daikon radishes there for $2.50 a pound. I guess I need to try to eat one next year. They almost as pricey as hamburger. Go figure.

Mike

dbltree · Feb 26, 2013

February 26th, 2013

The last of the brassicas have been eaten and with few exceptions, nothing left but dirt!

They served their purpose, providing tons of high quality forage and roots and helped feed whitetails from late August thru the end of January

They can not however provide a source of food year around by themselves which is why we use them in tandem with other crops such as the winter rye mix

Winter rye provides the missing link to keep whitetails fed thru the critical winter months when most landowners have long forgotten their deer herd.

Winter (cereal) rye also is the king of the cover crops, and leaving behind a sponge like root system that helps insure against severe droughts. Note the taller brassica stubble in the background was where rye was planted, inn the front oats were used...

The red clover growing with the rye will feed deer from early spring until mid July when it will be tilled under for the rotation to brassicas....and the cycle continues..

The one thing we always want to avoid is a "dirt plot" when the soil is bare and unproductive to either deer or the soil. In late April we plant the brassica areas to oats and a mix of berseem and crimson clovers (annual clovers) you can however frost seed red clover if you have little or no equipment and/or annual clover seed is hard to find locally. The problem with that is that the annual clovers are by their very nature fast growing and can produce a tremendous amount of forage and nitrogen in a short period of time. White and red clovers are slower to establish and need more time then we have to give them to produce significant forage or nitrogen...certainly better however to frost seed white or red clover then do nothing!

Brassicas are an awesome habitat tool but they should not be planted year after year on the same soil and they alone do not feed deer year around so be sure to divide your plots and plant a cereal mix like winter rye, oats, peas and red clover to keep deer on your property, rather then the neighbors not to mention making shed hunting a whole lot more productive!

bowGal · Feb 26, 2013

We have had the most amazing year with our purple top's turnips and the other brassica blend's we planted this year, Most of the 6 acrea plots where planted /treated/ fertilized for both corn and soybean's when planting but , our drought this summer killed us on our corn and bean plot, so I went back in and seeded in brassica's,, I am a soul believer in our best late season plot are having acrea's of good standing soybean's, We offer everything when it come's to food plot's, but I have to say these turnip plot's have been kick arse this year,

dbltree · Mar 11, 2013

I use to believe that corn and beans were a necessity but over time I came to see that whitetails are opportunistic feeders and simply don't care. Eventually we switched to the rye/brassica rotation and no longer have drought failures that commonly frustrate landowners and we have more deer using the feeding area then ever before...:way:

March 11th, 2013

The areas where we planted brassicas following winter rye produced heavy yields despite the 2012 drought and deer are still feeding on the remains of roots and tops

They don't leave much left!

This is just an example of how brassicas are an important tool in providing year around food sources. We fertilize and manage for high yields on less acres and by rotating with rye and red clover they help us build organic matter and provide insurance against failures during droughts. Crops like corn and soybeans even if high yielding rob our soils, are intolerant to droughts and would require 3-10X as much acres to feed whitetails this late in the year. Areas with ultra low deer densities of course would allow those crops to last all winter but assuming one improves the surrounding cover with intense timber management...that will quickly change.

Thanks to area shed poachers we pull cams from food plots in early February but the last pics reveal continued usage as deer glean every last morsel....

Brassicas are only one element inn our habitat pie and like most crops need to be rotated to eliminate disease and pest problems and insure that other crops are growing and feeding whitetails when brassicas are...not...

The following is what works very well for us and the landowners we work for...insuring that deer are fed year around and that we are building high levels of organic matter that are critical to achieving high yields on small acreages regardless of what nature throws at us....

dbltree · Mar 28, 2013

March 28th, 2013

A friend commented that for years he has been planting a mix from A/Z company with 9 different seeds in it, to which I shared that that really is not the best idea. He said "why not"...they eat it all? Well...deer are opportunistic, they'll eat almost anything so just because they "ate it" doesn't mean "mission accomplished", unless of course one is not interested in managing your property for mature whitetails.

True management requires a 24/7-365 day a year plan that involves providing for a whitetails needs, ALL the time...not just during hunting season. By now, anyone following these threads should know that cover is the number one priority and then providing food sources, year around to insure that the 2, 3 and 4 yr old bucks you let walk...stay on your property.

My friend also lamented the fact that a 180" buck that had been living on his farm, ended up being killed across the road in part because his food sources were long gone. I told him, this is about yields, growing the max amount of food on the minimum amount of acres, so...how many cows could you feed on 10 acres of 100 bushel corn? How many cows could you feed on 10 acres of 200 bushel corn, or...how much longer could we feed the same number of cattle?

I am aware that many if not most landowners today have zero farming experience and therefore may not understand my analogy or any concept of "yields" but the long and short is that most commercial mixes are comprised of totally incompatible crops that compete with each other, thereby diminishing yields and the ability to hold/feed deer for any length of time.

Farmers don't mix corn and alfalfa...why? Because the corn would be unable to compete and the alfalfa would become a "Weed" so to speak...would it grow, perhaps...but it would offer very poor yields.

My friends "mix" has been nothing but a dirt plot since late December...while just down the road on a farm we manage, with very high deer densities...deer are still feeding on the brassicas!!

and the landowner does not worry that his bucks are on the neighbors place!

Via the internet and various forums one can get all kinds of "advice", rarely however, backed up by solid proof of effectiveness in regards to long term management, so you must be discerning and decide what is "talk" and what information might help you reach your goals.

There of course, many options but the following mixes are very compatible and produce very high yielding, very lush palatable crops that combined allow us to feed deer year around...not just on our farm but dozens of farms across Iowa and Missouri....

Scooter3148 · Mar 29, 2013

I plan on adding some corn to my plantings this year . Could I plant corn where I planted brassicas last year ? And if so should I plant some kind of cover crop before planting the corn ? Last year I planted corn on the rye mix side with great results . Thanks for all the help Paul .

dbltree · Mar 29, 2013

Not enough time before planting time to make planting a cover crop worth while but certainly you can follow brassicas with corn

kstur · Apr 18, 2013

Can I broadcast forage radish in standing corn a few weeks prior to the corn being harvested? I have heard of people doing this with beans but I'm unsure about doing it in corn. I would like to do this if the farmer doesn't mind.

dbltree · Apr 19, 2013

Yes if not to much atrazine was applied and best to get seed on by 1st of September for any decent growth

dbltree · May 21, 2013

2 months of seemingly non stop rainfall have made it difficult to get oats and annual clovers planted into the dead brassica plots, although my son managed to squeeze in a few acres between rains the other day.

We use roughly 50 # of ordinary oats and roughly 10#'s each of berseem and crimson clovers although any inexpensive red clover will work. Annuals like berseem grow very quickly while white and red clovers grow much slower, so where feasible the annuals can yield far more biomass, high quality forage (up to 28% CP) and fix more nitrogen per acre (100-200#'s per acre)

The combined attributes provide awesome soil benefits, keep whitetails fed and may reduce or eliminate the need for additional nitrogen when we till/kill it for the rye mix this fall making it a win-win for our food plot rotation.

Great link to more info on berseem clover:

Berseem Clover

We endeavor to avoid dirt plots because it is neither helpful to our soils nor in keeping deer adapted to coming to our plots year around...the following combination minimizes the unproductive times in food plots and maximizes the use of cover crops to build soils and habituate deer to coming to centrally located feeding areas....

dbltree · Jun 4, 2013

June 4th, 2013

Normally the right side of this field (brassicas last year) would by now be a lush field of oats and annual clovers but...with the wettest spring since they have kept records here in Iowa...little if any planting has been done. Jess was able to at least spray this field so eventually we still hope to no-till plant the oats, crimson and berseem clovers

We were able to sneak in a few acres and the clovers are just coming up

Leaving the field unplanted would mean it will turn into a mass of weeds and from that a zillion weed seeds but by following the brassicas with oats and annual clovers we can feed deer protect and build our soils and produce nearly enough nitrogen to feed the fall crop of rye/oats/radish

Keep your soil and plots working year around!

dbltree · Jun 6, 2013

Oats and annual clovers

Seems odd to talk about cover crops like oats and annual clovers in the brassica thread but they are an integral part of the rotation between brassicas and the rye mix, without them the soil would lay barren until August and soon become a sea of weeds!

These are new plots where we are beginning the rotation this year...

The berseem and crimson clover mix is coming on strong!

We sprayed these areas and no-till planted which lowers weed problems that tend to come with tillage in the spring but if you till...broadcast oats on tilled soil, cultipack, broadcast clover seeds, cultipack to cover.

The oats/clover mix makes a great buffer next to crops and to keep deer from wiping out young soybeans

It's not necessary to use both crimson and berseem, one or the other is fine or in arid areas arrowleaf might work well. We prefer to establish white clover in the fall with rye but certainly one can add 6-10#'s of white clover if it's intended to be a perennial clover plot.

We use 10#'s each of crimson and berseem and add inoculate as well

risto2351 · Jun 7, 2013

Paul,

Would there be a problem adding some alfalfa to the clover and oat mix?

dbltree · Jun 7, 2013

Nope...perfect way to establish alfalfa

risto2351 · Jun 7, 2013

Thanks Paul,

Going to do some strip farming and when I can wanted to get some in.

On these hills up here and the small quantities that I buy it is hard getting

some clover out of the hopper because it is all on one side. Just wanted to add

a little filler in the hopper.

Thanks.

Brassicas

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